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Lead in gasoline tied to over 150 million excess cases of mental health disorders, study suggests

beefheart

beefheart

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Wow, lead is a toxic poison with all kinds of nasty effects on the human body. Leaded gasoline was a massive disaster, be thankful they removed it.

www.nbcnews.com

Lead in gasoline tied to over 150 million excess cases of mental health disorders, study suggests

Exposure to car exhaust from leaded gas, which was phased out in 1996, resulted in anxiety, depression and ADHD symptoms in generations of people, researchers found.
www.nbcnews.com www.nbcnews.com

Exposure to lead in gasoline during childhood resulted in many millions of excess cases of psychiatric disorders over the last 75 years, a new study estimates.

Lead was banned from automobile fuel in 1996. The study, published Wednesday in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, looked at its lasting impact in the U.S. by analyzing childhood blood lead levels from 1940 to 2015. According to the findings, the national population experienced an estimated 151 million excess mental health disorders attributable to exposure to lead from car exhaust during children’s early development.
The exposure made generations of Americans more depressed, anxious, inattentive or hyperactive, the study says.

The researchers — a group from Duke University, Florida State University and the Medical University of South Carolina — found that the exposure also lowered people’s capacity for impulse control and made them more inclined to be neurotic.

Lead-associated mental health and personality differences were most pronounced for people born between 1966 and 1986, according to the study. Of that group, the greatest lead-linked mental illness burden was for Generation Xers born between 1966 and 1970, coinciding with peak use of leaded gasoline in the mid-1960s and mid-1970s.
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A great article from Car and Driver about why we don't miss leaded gas.


A filling station in Dayton, Ohio, sold the first gallon of leaded gasoline in February 1923. Thomas Midgley Jr. missed the event. The General Motors engineer who discovered that tetraethyl lead, also called TEL, raised the octane of gasoline was in Miami, Florida, convalescing from severe lead poisoning.

Midgley and his boss, Charles Kettering, the man who patented the electric starter in 1911, had ignored the known health risks of lead. Exposure affects not only the nervous, cardiovascular, and immune systems, but it can also cause major behavioral issues and learning problems in young children.

But in engines, the toxic compound eliminated knock, which was an industry-wide problem at the time. TEL was held up as the protector of valve seats and high-compression engines. Kettering also knew it was a better bet for GM than ethanol, which had similar benefits but couldn’t be patented.

The following year, 32 men at the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey became sick (in some cases, to the point of insanity), and five of them died from TEL exposure, triggering public backlash and an industry-backed investigation into the effects of TEL that proved to be a farce. Standard Oil’s medical consultant claimed that the workers’ deaths were “wholly unlike those of chronic lead poisoning such as painters often have.”
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We are dumb all over.

www.nbcnews.com

Lead from gasoline blunted the IQ of about half the U.S. population, study says

Leaded gas was banned in 1996, but exposure to the poison cost people born before then several IQ points on average, researchers estimated.
www.nbcnews.com www.nbcnews.com

Exposure to leaded gasoline lowered the IQ of about half the population of the United States, a new study estimates.

The peer-reviewed study, published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, focuses on people born before 1996 — the year the U.S. banned gas containing lead.

Overall, the researchers from Florida State University and Duke University found, childhood lead exposure cost America an estimated 824 million points, or 2.6 points per person on average.

Certain cohorts were more affected than others. For people born in the 1960s and the 1970s, when leaded gas consumption was skyrocketing, the IQ loss was estimated to be up to 6 points and for some, more than 7 points. Exposure to it came primarily from inhaling auto exhaust.
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Now I'm starting to worry about memory. It was as late as 1996? Really? Could've sworn it was earlier than that...


(If government were hobbled the way Trump/Musk/Vivek want to hobble it, we would probably still have leaded gasoline.)
 
Democrats now need to focus their environmental agenda on the most dangerous environmental problem facing humanity today and push for all industrial releases have a pH of zero. Or less.
 
Mr Person said:
Now I'm starting to worry about memory. It was as late as 1996? Really? Could've sworn it was earlier than that...


(If government were hobbled the way Trump/Musk/Vivek want to hobble it, we would probably still have leaded gasoline.)
Click to expand...
For cars, it was much earlier, lead was allowed in gas in limited supply/uses up to 1996. This is from the Car and Driver article:

Leaded gasoline was the primary fuel type produced and sold in America until 1975. Although cited as a reason for limiting the use of leaded gas, health issues associated with TEL exposure weren’t what finally caused its removal after 52 years; it was tailpipe emissions. The use of catalytic converters became necessary to meet stricter emissions regulations outlined in the Clean Air Act of 1970, and leaded gasoline proved damaging to these devices. In 1975, catalytic converters were in and lead was out. New cars were sold with cats, hardened valve seats, and Unleaded Fuel Only labels. Virtually overnight, “Fill it up unleaded” became the request at gas stations across America.

Eventually, leaded gas became illegal in roadgoing vehicles, first in California in 1992 and then nationwide four years later. Despite many calling the valve-seat issue a myth, owners of older cars fearing engine damage scrambled to modify their cylinder heads. Today, the valve-seat debate still rages on across the internet.
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beefheart said:
Wow, lead is a toxic poison with all kinds of nasty effects on the human body. Leaded gasoline was a massive disaster, be thankful they removed it.

www.nbcnews.com

Lead in gasoline tied to over 150 million excess cases of mental health disorders, study suggests

Exposure to car exhaust from leaded gas, which was phased out in 1996, resulted in anxiety, depression and ADHD symptoms in generations of people, researchers found.
www.nbcnews.com www.nbcnews.com
Click to expand...
this partially explains Trump voters
 
The Clean Air Act, the last time perhaps US democracy pretty much was functioning. Far less corrupt spending allowed in politics. Politicians could get votes actually representing the public interest, not just by doing what big donors say. The Clean Air and Clean Water acts - from the 60's, especially LBJ, and becoming laws and then the EPA by Democrats with Nixon's cooperation.
 
Clean Air Act laws:

www.epa.gov

Evolution of the Clean Air Act | US EPA

This page describes how the Clean Air Act and its subsequent amendments in 1977 and 1990 evolved from the Air Pollution Control Act on 1955
www.epa.gov www.epa.gov
 
Sadly, lead in gasoline most affected the most densely populated areas of the country. Exactly where we find Democrat strongholds today. That lead is some nasssssty stuff!
 
I recall when they first introduced unleaded gas in the 70s. Stupid people lost their minds. You'd think the world was coming to an end. Still, it took us and the automobile industry 20 years to complete the conversion.
 
Mr Person said:
Now I'm starting to worry about memory. It was as late as 1996? Really? Could've sworn it was earlier than that...
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Same here. I thought it was done away with in late 80s or so.
Mr Person said:
(If government were hobbled the way Trump/Musk/Vivek want to hobble it, we would probably still have leaded gasoline.)
Click to expand...
 
Craig234 said:
The Clean Air Act, the last time perhaps US democracy pretty much was functioning. Far less corrupt spending allowed in politics. Politicians could get votes actually representing the public interest, not just by doing what big donors say. The Clean Air and Clean Water acts - from the 60's, especially LBJ, and becoming laws and then the EPA by Democrats with Nixon's cooperation.
Click to expand...

The infamous Powell Memo insidious plan to use big money to sway public opinion against government was leaked during Nixon's presidency. Nixon later made Powell a SCOTUS justice. The effects of the Powell Memo took a long time to push America to the point where it rejected government so much that violent Trump voters attacked the Capitol on January 6th 2021.

Good things could still get passed before the Powell Memo handed so much power to big greedy corrupt money.
 
verrip1 said:
Democrats now need to focus their environmental agenda on the most dangerous environmental problem facing humanity today and push for all industrial releases have a pH of zero. Or less.
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….didnt do well in chemistry, did you?
 
Mr Person said:
Now I'm starting to worry about memory. It was as late as 1996? Really? Could've sworn it was earlier than that...


(If government were hobbled the way Trump/Musk/Vivek want to hobble it, we would probably still have leaded gasoline.)
Click to expand...
1996 is the last date. The law came out in 1975 and it was phased out over time.
 
This is the most fascinating documentary I know of on this topic - it's an amazing watch!

 
General aviation, you know, those little put put airplanes that fly around on Sunday afternoons, burn low lead 100 for their 100+ horse power engines.
 
beefheart said:
Wow, lead is a toxic poison with all kinds of nasty effects on the human body. Leaded gasoline was a massive disaster, be thankful they removed it.
Click to expand...
We're not adding it anymore, but take a soil sample in a built up area and test it for lead. We spent 70 years spreading that around.
 
verrip1 said:
Democrats now need to focus their environmental agenda on the most dangerous environmental problem facing humanity today and push for all industrial releases have a pH of zero. Or less.
Click to expand...
🤣😂🤣

Definitely less.

You’ve got a real future as Trumps nominee to head the NSF.
 
So a large chunk of people who grew up smoking cigarettes and being exposed to lead gasoline is probably the largest block of people who vote.
 
beefheart said:
Wow, lead is a toxic poison with all kinds of nasty effects on the human body. Leaded gasoline was a massive disaster, be thankful they removed it.

www.nbcnews.com

Lead in gasoline tied to over 150 million excess cases of mental health disorders, study suggests

Exposure to car exhaust from leaded gas, which was phased out in 1996, resulted in anxiety, depression and ADHD symptoms in generations of people, researchers found.
www.nbcnews.com www.nbcnews.com
Click to expand...
This explains the whole Trump phenomenon!
 
verrip1 said:
Democrats now need to focus their environmental agenda on the most dangerous environmental problem facing humanity today and push for all industrial releases have a pH of zero. Or less.
Click to expand...

A pH of zero? Your grade in 11th grade chemistry must have been zero or
you didn't take 11th grade chemistry or any chemistry at any grade level.

pH Wikipedia
pH for dummies
What is pH?

Hmmm, maybe you were being sarcastic. Eye Roll (@@)
 
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